(TV) andy likes them

[robin dunn <rdunnrn@yahoo.com>]

only to jibe keith, the ps interview below from the u2
website.  mind you, i don't hang out there -- this was
posted to another list.  she (and presumably tom) will
be opening for u2 at msg shortly.  tom is mentioned
once, and she's now talking about "doing a covers
album next year" (they had been, supposedly, on the
way into the studio to do this right before ollie left
the band -- and as it stands tom should be one of the
guitarists on this project).



`Patti The Punk Rocker'
from u2.com 


U2 have had some pretty cool acts playing with them
during 2005 but none as legendary or influential as
Patti Smith who will support them at Madison Square
Garden early next week. 

It was thirty years ago this month that Patti's debut
album Horses was released, an album that was to have a
seminal influence on four teenage musicians in Dublin
 and thousands of others worldwide. As long ago as
1988 U2 covered `Dancing Barefoot' for a b-side
release and during Vertigo '05 shows they've
interjected snatches of her songs `Rock'n'Roll Nigger'
into Vertigo and `The People Have The Power' into Bad.
Earlier this week, Bono dedicated Wild Horses to
`Patti the punk rocker'. 

A remastered version of Horses has just been released,
complete with a live version performed at the Meltdown
Festival in London in the summer. You can find out
more about what she is up to here . 

U2.Com caught up with Patti on the US West Coast
earlier this week and discovered how Michael Stipe
surprised her by taking her along to a U2 show last
month, why she thought they sound `like a punk rock
band', which member of the band she met as a teenager
and how `art is meant for the people'. 

U2.Com: Are you touring with the band at present or
doing poetry readings? 
Right now I'm doing a little tour with Lenny Kaye to
celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of our record
Horses. Since Lenny and I developed most of the songs
together we thought it would be nice to visit some of
those place where we first performed those songs. So
we've been performing acoustically on the West Coast
and then I've also been doing some readings because I
have a new book of poetry coming out. 
Even though I have been around for a long time, I
still feel that I have something to contribute and I
think next year we will do a cover album, songs that
have taught and inspired me through the years. We'll
sit down and look at the whole canon of rock'n'roll
and choose some songs where writers have spoken for
me. 

U2.Com: Does the thirtieth anniversary of Horses give
you pause for reflection?

I was surprised when I realised it would be thirty
years. I hadn't really realised it and I am actually
quite proud because I feel I am still in touch with
the songs. I feel very healthy and I still feel able
to project the songs. I feel very good about where we
are right now but I am also proud to have done a body
of work which has proved meaningful to people. 
To mark the thirtieth anniversary we started out
performing Horses live in sequence at the Meltdown
Festival in the summer with Tom Verlaine and with Flea
from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and that was exciting
so we will do the same at the Brooklyn Academy of
Music on November 30th . We will have celebrated in
London, on the West Coast and then in New York. 

U2.Com: Did you ever imagine that album would prove so
influential - and for so long? 

No. I was just hoping the record would inspire people.
When I recorded Horses I wanted to make a record for
people like myself, who were outside society, who felt
disenfranchised. I really never imagined that it would
have any big impact, but I thought some people might
find it helpful so it is really quite amazing and a
wonderful feeling that it still means something to
people thirty years later. 

U2.Com: At the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame Awards earlier
this year, Larry noted your influence on U2 as a young
band and said that you were in U2's Rock'n'Roll Hall
of Fame. Is that kind of recognition rewarding? 

That means more to me than the recognition of the Hall
of Fame itself, because the recognition of one's peers
and fellow musicians is what really counts, It is an
honour to be recognised by such institutions but I
have say to be in `U2's Hall of Fame' is really
special, to be in the People's Hall of Fame is all one
needs. I feel very touched by that. 
One doesn't really realise this impact at the time or
think about it. I never realised truthfully that we
had any impact on these younger groups and when I
listen to them, they are so strong and have such
unique qualities that I certainly see no comparison
but I think that if we did anything to inspire these
groups or to give them courage or to help them feel
not alone then we did our job. 

U2.Com: It seems improbable but when you support U2
next week it will be the first time you have ever
played Madison Square Garden. 

Yes, our first time! Even though our band is American
we are still a fairly marginalised band and I have to
say that probably we would have never gotten an
opportunity to play at MSG if someone didn't give us a
chance. In my thirty-plus years this is the first time
I have been invited by a band to play so it is great.
Not only are we going to experience being a New York
band playing at the Garden - which is a dream - but we
are doing it with people who share our beliefs and who
are such an important part of the current cultural
voice. 

U2.Com: Were you surprised at the invitation? 

Yes and I was excited. We had to make some last minute
adjustments but we did everything we could in order to
do the job and we'll do the best we can to provide a
good energy. Not that they need it but it has always
been my policy, whether opening for Bob Dylan or Neil
Young or any young group we admire, that our job is to
create a good atmosphere on stage so that when the
headliner walks on stage they feel a positive spirit.
We'll do our best! 

U2.Com: You saw the band play on the current tour, in
New York last month. What did you make of the show?

I was actually on my way to Africa but Michael Stipe
called me and picked me up and said, `I know you have
a plane to catch in a few hours but I am whisking you
off to Madison Square Garden.' And it was so great,
such fun to attend the show with U2 and dance all
night with Michael. 
Of course their older songs are thrilling but they
played Vertigo which is one of my favourite songs,
such a fresh energy. In fact as they were playing I
was thinking, `Gees, they sound like a punk rock band,
they sound like our band in fact I think we make the
grade, that we could play this song just as good as
them' Then I realised that they were doing our song,
Rock'n'Roll Nigger, so no wonder they sounded just
like us! I was laughing when I realised they were
playing one of our songs. 
But the strength of the show took me right back to
CBGB's in the 1970's, I was so moved by the whole
thing: everything you want in rock'n'roll, the sexual
energy, the emotional energy, the political concerns
but music you can dance to and express yourself in. It
was all there. 

U2.Com: You've met the band over the years, as well as
seen them play before. 

I had seen them before this last show and it's always
a great experience: great singer and lyricist, great
to hear that Edge clarion call, and one of the
greatest rhythm sections in rock'n`roll. They've also
been to our concerts and I always find them very
supportive and friendly. 
The story I remember most is from the 1970's, when our
band weren't allowed to travel to Ireland because of
the unrest so I went with just my piano player. We
visited a church, and there were a lot of poor kids
and struggling kids and I read poems and talked and
sang songs with an old upright piano and we talked
about rock'n'roll as something from the grassroots
that didn't belong to the rich or to business but
something that was the people's art. We talked about
how everyone in that room was capable and deserving of
expressing themselves. And one of the people who was
there was Larry, he was just a young boy, and he has
told me about that since and we talked about Africa,
about Ethiopia and all the things you can do through
music  artistically, poetically. And that was my
first contact with Larry. I think that's what made it
so much more amazing for him to say those words about
me when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. He
comes by where he is very honestly so I am very proud
to see where he has risen to. 

U2.Com: What do you find in U2's music? 

When I first heard U2 in the eighties I was living in
Michigan and had withdrawn from the public arena.
There was something in their music that deeply touched
me, even when I knew nothing about them. I felt
whoever this band was, these were our people, their
music had such a merging of tradition with the new,
r'n'b with 70's aspects..but all new. 
And there was always this political concern as well, a
human concern, whether songs about love or
self-exploration or the state of their own country or
revolution. It's the things that our band always
sought, and still does, but what U2 has is something
far beyond what I was able to do myself  to take
these aspects and to really communicate with the
public consciousness, to create songs that people
really respond to. 
I don't think that one has to be obscure or
marginalised to be a true artist. Art is meant for the
people and political awareness is meant for the people
and I am so happy to see one of the biggest bands in
the world not only creating music the people respond
to, but music that encourages them and teaches them. 

U2.Com: In recent shows U2 have been marrying your
song `The People Have The Power' with their song
`Bad'.

I still believe that the people have the power but
they have forgotten how to exercise that power and
it's important to remind and encourage people of that.
My late husband Fred Sonic Smith wrote it with me and
we wrote it for the people to have it, for people to
be inspired by it and certainly U2 is going to connect
with more people than I ever could, so I am really
grateful that they have chosen to do that.  
There is a lot of similarity in our bands, our
motivations are similar, humanistic, concerned about
our people, our environment and we both like to have
fun. Spiritual concerns, political concerns, poetic
concerns  and a lot of dancing.' 

Patti Smith will play with U2 at Madison Square Garden
on November 21st and 22nd.



	
		
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